1998: The MAPS infomercial was broadcast simultaneously by every local TV station. The proposal would have funded a number of capital, transit and development projects, including a new domed stadium or convention facility, in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area.

1964: More than 90 percent of those eligible voted to incorporate Pelham as a city, and the measure passed 121-20.

1908: The 1908 United Mine Workers strike began. Some 18,000 miners, white and black, went on strike for two months until Gov. B. B. Comer sent in state troops to dismantle a tent city erected by the miners. The result was a total victory for mine owners, who proceeded to lower wages and rigidly enforce racial segregation to reduce the threat of combined action.

1904: By order of producer Mabel Whitman, the Jefferson Theatre agreed to open its dress circle and parquet seats to African-American patrons for performances of the Whitman Sisters' New Orleans Troubadours on July 23.